This is one of the biggest questions we had before we tied the knot. What value could a wedding planner add to the process? How expensive are they? What do they do exactly? As it turned out, we made the wise decision to ultimately hire a wedding planner – especially since we were getting married in a different state. Was it worth the investment? We believe so. Was I happy with my decision to hire one? The short answer is “yes,” but there are some things I would do differently.

My mixed feelings on this stem from several reasons. Our wedding planner was a tad pushy, but she was trying to do her job. In hindsight, I was stressed because I was trying to move, get settled into a new job promotion and plan a wedding out-of-state – and I had a wedding planner who would bombard me with emails. Looking back, bombarding your client with emails isn’t the worst offense because she was trying to do her job, and I had information she needed. It was a bit much at the time, but I appreciate her ability to follow through.

She was a tad disorganized at times. In our last walk-through with the reception venue, she did not have updated documents (guest count, menu items, table linens), but luckily I had my own copies on hand. So this also could be overlooked. On the other hand, she was always available via phone call or email and made herself available whenever we flew into town for a walk-through. We appreciated her flexibility because we were typically on tight deadlines when we flew in.

The price was fair. We based our price on her services leading up to the month of our wedding, day-of coordination and coordination during the wedding and reception. We ended up paying less than $3,000. With a wedding planner, it is hard to quantify the amount of time they spend on your wedding, because they do a lot of the tasks behind the scenes. It was more than I initially wanted to spend, but ultimately, we got a good price. We recommend coming up with a figure you are willing to pay and negotiating the price from there. This will obviously vary based on the extent to which you want the wedding planner involved.

All that, our wedding planner decreased much of the stress involved with planning a wedding from out of state, so we would certainly recommend one for those of you on the fence.

We are here today with five reasons why we think you should hire a wedding planner:

ONE. They can refer other vendors your way. They are so well-connected in the industry that they can refer you to the vendors they know will do a good job. They might also be able to secure you a discount because they are repeat customers. This was especially helpful for our DJ and linen rentals.

TWO. They can take the hassle out of setting up the reception. Your wedding planner helps bring your reception vision to life. They orchestrate the room set-up so you don’t have to worry about a thing. We gave our wedding planner special items we wanted in the room, such as our favors, escort cards, special photos, etc… and she made sure they were exactly how we wanted them.

THREE. They can help take down the room at the end of the evening. They will make sure your flowers are out of the room, the leftover cake (if there is any) is boxed up, any decor that you purchased is given to your designated person.

FOUR. They are the keeper of your contracts. They make sure all of your vendors adhere to the terms of the contracts you signed. Our wedding planner went through and made sure that the vendors and my fiance and I understood what exactly they were responsible for.

FIVE. They work to get all of your vendors on the same page. Our wedding planner went through and sent a reminder email to our vendors in the weeks leading up to the wedding. If vendors were going to have to work together (think: florist and photographer – the flowers needed to be delivered in time for the photographer to take photos before the ceremony) – our wedding planner worked out a timeline for all of that. Everyone had a copy of the timeline – thanks to our planner – and everything worked out seamlessly.

Here are some other helpful wedding guides here to keep you on track:

Bride to Be: A Journal to List the “To-Dos” Before the Big “I Do” 

This journal is 8×10 and great for those list-makers. If you live by the list, this journal is for you. It comes lined so you can keep track of all those bridal to-do lists.

The Knot Book of Wedding Lists

All of the timelines, tools and checklists have been compiled in one book for your convenience. This is great if you just don’t know where to start.

The Wedding Planner and Organizer

This book comes either in hard-cover or ring-bound. This is the ultimate planning guide for the hands-on bride. This guide allows you to keep track of everything associated with your wedding. Think lists, contracts, receipts, etc…

The Wedding Planner Checklist

This is a portable guide with pre-made templates. It’s so simple because you just have to fill out the specific lists and sections to keep track of everything associated with your wedding. It’s simple (and cute) to carry with you wherever you go.